The present technology, in general, relates to water-dispersible or water-soluble multi-arm polymers which contain at least one urethane bond and compositions thereof; methods of manufacture; and the various applications or processes that use them.
In particular, these polymers are designed to be water-dispersible and/or soluble. The literature is replete with examples of urethane polymers that are designed to provide structural properties for furniture foam, contact lenses, wound dressings, adhesives, curable coatings and the like. The polymers of this invention are different in that they are designed to be incorporated into aqueous cleaning compositions to provide surface wetting and/or sustained foaming benefits. This requires properties very different than the prior art urethane polymers, which are generally only water swellable, if not water insoluble.